umami

American

[oo-mah-mee] / uˈmɑ mi /

noun

a strong meaty taste imparted by glutamate and certain other amino acids: often considered to be one of the basic taste sensations along with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.

Etymology

Origin of umami

First recorded in 1960–65; from Japanese: literally, “savory quality, delicious taste,” equivalent to uma-, the inflectional stem of umai “(to be) delicious” + -mi, a suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“I needed some umami and some salt,” she added.

From Salon

Sure, onions add plenty of perks to a dish: texture, a hint of sweetness and plenty of umami.

From Salon

It’s sweet and rich in umami — everything you’d get out of an onion.

From Salon

Its umami scent did half the work.

From The Wall Street Journal

While our perception of salt, sweet and sour is reduced in the presence of white noise, umami is not, and tomatoes, and tomato juice is rich in umami.

From Science Daily

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023